Rock hounds unite (separately)

Residents search for quiet, enjoyment through rock hunting

By Arielle Breen, Staff Writer

Published
11:37 am EDT, Sunday, March 29, 2020

Erin LaMont of Bear Lake shared her photos of beach glass, rocks and other treasures she finds in her beachcombing trips. LaMont said she often searches beaches in Manistee County and outside the area seeking treasures. less

Erin LaMont of Bear Lake shared her photos of beach glass, rocks and other treasures she finds in her beachcombing trips. LaMont said she often searches beaches in Manistee County and outside the area seeking ... more

Photo: Courtesy Photo

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Erin LaMont of Bear Lake shared her photos of beach glass, rocks and other treasures she finds in her beachcombing trips. LaMont said she often searches beaches in Manistee County and outside the area seeking treasures. less

Erin LaMont of Bear Lake shared her photos of beach glass, rocks and other treasures she finds in her beachcombing trips. LaMont said she often searches beaches in Manistee County and outside the area seeking ... more

Photo: Courtesy Photo

Rock hounds unite (separately)

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MANISTEE COUNTY — Some do it for solace in nature or the thrill of a treasure hunt while others use it as a way to stay fit.

Many continue to take advantage of the diverse rock hunting opportunities in Manistee County, even while keeping a healthy distance from others during the coronavirus, COVID-19 pandemic.

Arielle Sheffield, said she typically solo hunts for beach glass and rocks, like Petoskey stones.

“It’s kind of my alone time and it just works well for me,” Sheffield said. “When I go with other people, I start talking and we don’t actually search so then it’s just a distraction.”

For beach glass, she said she looks for any color she can find. She said the light blue beach glass seems to be the most prevalent with purples, amber yellow and reds being more rare.

Sheffield collects the rocks and displays them in glass jars at home as well as creating some art pieces for fun from her finds.

She even had a few of her Petoskey stones turned into rings by a Traverse City artist.

“I think it became a healthy obsession for me,” she said. “It’s a hunt. It’s like ‘what am I going to find today?’ Some days I go out and I don’t find anything, but I still enjoy being out there. But there are other days when I can find handfuls, pockets full.”

She said part of the intrigue is wondering what will wash onshore next.

Sheffield said she usually searches along Michigan’s west coast in places like the Magoon Creek beach area in Manistee as well as farther north along M-22.

“You just got to look and I think it’s a bit of perseverance. You got to keep looking,” Sheffield said. “You kind of gain (the eye) when you practice. Practice makes perfect. It’s just a fun thing to do.”

Sheffield said she has honed her rock-finding skills.

“Over the last five years of really enjoying just going out as a hobby, you kind of know what to look for,” she said. “I had grown up here, so I spend a lot of my days going out to the beach and just walking. I think when I was younger, I just wanted to go to the beach (because) it had that calmness, that serenity and then it became (that) there was a treasure hunt on top of this that I could do. So, that made it into more of an exercise and a hobby.”

But lately, she has been staying close to home and avoiding areas that have more people.

“Actually, right now, I haven’t been to the beaches. I’m just walking the roads out by my parents house,” she said. “I wasn’t really looking. I just was out for a walk, and I kind of keep my head down when I see gravel areas because typically where there’s a lot of gravel, there’s a lot of stones and there could be potential Petoskey stones.”

Sheffield decided to stay home with her parents rather than be alone during the coronavirus, COVID-19 pandemic.

“I just knew during this quarantine I didn’t want to be by myself in my apartment so I (told my parents) ‘I’m coming up to you guys so that I feel a little bit more energized with people and safe and just feeling better here than being alone in my apartment,” she said.

Sheffield and others have noticed an influx of others visiting local beaches and trails. She saw a video last week from Magoon Creek area that showed the roadway lined with vehicles parked on both sides.

“I like to do it when there aren’t a lot of people,” she said. “Right now, I know a lot of people are getting out and going, and I just don’t want to see a lot of people. ... With this big COVID-19 happening, I’m kind of nervous to be around more people, so I’m like ‘no, not right now.’ I’m going to take this isolation time to spend it with myself and my parents.”

ROCK HUNTING DUO

Erin LaMont, of Bear Lake, uses the hobby as a way to collect rocks with her husband, James.

The pair started about five years ago.

“We just started walking the beaches to get healthy,” LaMont said. “And then we went to Magoon one day and we saw people picking stuff up and we weren’t sure what they were picking up. It just so happened that that beach has a ton of (beach) glass.”

She said Magoon Creek area beach tends to have more of the greens and frosted white beach glass with the occasional blue glass.

“Magoon is a great hike as far as nature and the trails go back where you can do the woodline so far before you even come up to the beach,” LaMont said. “So, there’s a lot of hiking that is there as well. Magoon is really good that way.”

She said they also go to beaches in Arcadia off of Chamberlain Road.

From Memorial Day through Labor Day, the couple sticks to the more private beaches, and she said they “let the tourists do their thing.”

LaMont said the adventure aspect of rock hunting keeps her coming back.

“It’s kind of the thrill of the hunt, finding something new, different,” she said. “Every once in a while, you’ll find a plate with a pattern or a pottery (piece) from an old bowl or something with some sort of print on it. Then you have to start doing detective work and figure out what it came from or possibly what they used it for.”

One unique piece LaMont and her husband found was an old ink bottle used to ship inks; it came from Paris.

She advised would-be hunters that finding rocks is all about the location. For Petoskey stones, she said to look where the water break washes up as a wet Petoskey stone is easier to identify.

For glass, she said it is best to look past the water break line in the dry areas of the beach.

LaMont said when the ice heaves are present, she and her husband will sometimes find beach glass shining through the ice and the two will chisel out the specimen.

“Everybody likes different rocks, they like (different) colors — and of course everybody is on the hunt for the elusive Petoskey stone. But when we walk the beach, we stop and we chat with people and we’ll give the tourists some Petoskey stones, because we have an abundance of them but everybody’s collecting something different. Everybody sees something different in the rocks. There’s a memory there, there’s heart-shaped rocks, there’s funky shapes that apply in their life somehow.”

LaMont said one thing to keep in mind is anyone travelling to Ohio in the future should be aware of the rock and beach glass collection rules that differ from Michigan.

She said in Michigan, people are allowed to look for beach glass and rocks between the water and high water mark areas but she learned this was not the same as some other places.

“My husband and I had decided to take a spur of the moment day trip to Ohio to go to Lake Erie. I follow a lot of beach glass hunters on Instagram, and they find a lot of cool stuff,” she said. “Up here, we’re lucky because we’re a high water mark (law) and we make that assumption everywhere we go and we actually got yelled at by so many residents in Ohio because their law is feet in the water and it’s not high water mark. The homeowners actually own right to where the water kisses (land) and your feet actually have to be right in the water.”

She said anything found on the beach also belongs to the landowners in Ohio.

LaMont said when she goes rock hunting, she brings two backpacks.

“One backpack will hold all our treasures and the other backpack we use to pick up trash on the beach just grabbing the things that we see as we’re out there since we’re already on the beach checking things out,” she said. “I want it to be there for my kids and my future grandkids and for them to enjoy the same thing as I do. And if I decide to go out to watch a sunset, I want to sit on the beach and enjoy my surroundings. I don’t want to look around and see someone else’s trash or what’s washed in, the things that aren’t treasures.”

Another important thing to remember is that there is a 25 pound limit per year for collecting from certain lands in Michigan.

There are also areas, such as along National Lakeshore areas where rock collecting is not allowed. See the individual park, beach or land's website for more details as there are varying rules and policies about collection from state and federal lands as well.

LaMont said part of the appeal to her about rock hunting is that “Every wave brings a new treasure.”

“Lake Michigan’s waves are always there and every wave brings up something different,” she said.